Author: The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East

Writers: Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio Additional Material: Jonathan Harvey Director: Gabriel Barre Socially distanced Kevin finds help in an unlikely source, Dolly Parton herself, as he navigates a painful personal situation amid the pandemic in this unusual production, Here You Come Again. It is a production which is essentially Kevin’s fever dream, who is wrought with depression and confined to his parents’ attic, his childhood bedroom, during the COVID pandemic. Eager to escape his confines, super Dolly fan Kevin finds support in an unlikely source as Dolly Parton explodes out of his poster to try and set…

Writer: John Buchan Adaptor: Patrick Barlow Director: Maira Aitken and Nicola Samer The 39 Steps began as a book from John Buchan in 1915, went on to grace the big screen in 1935 thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, and finally found a home for itself on stage in Patrick Barlow’s adaptation in 2005. While the show keeps the threads of the spy classic, it unpins just about everything else you could expect from an early twentieth century spy story. With 4 actors, 130 characters, and just 100 minutes to get the story told, The 39 steps throws the plot and the…

Devisor, Director and Choreographer: Matthew Bourne Music and Arrangements: Danny Elfman and Terry Davies Writer: Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson Adaptor: Caroline Thompson Matthew Bourne is renowned for his creative twists on classic tales, creating new perspectives on traditional stories. At first glance, these classic stories sitting alongside Tim Burton’s gothic Edward Scissorhands seems rather jarring, until of course one realises that the 1999 movie was perhaps always meant to be a ballet. The vibrant colours, eccentric costumes, and sense of unreality all fit seamlessly into the world of ballet. The story, adapted by original screenplay co-writer Caroline Thompson, tells…

Writer: Jonathan Hogue Director: Ellis Kerkhoven In Hawkins, Indiana, nineteen eighty something nothing at all strange happens. Aside from a few missing kids and a government conspiracy. Stranger Sings, the award-winning and irreverent twist on Stranger Things brings a manic collection of eighties pop culture references, lots of synth, and several rather impressive dance moves for a reimagining of the TV show that no one expected.  The entire gang are brought to the stage by a seriously impressive set of performers, with most portraying more than one character, and all of them having some precision comedic timing along with unexpected vocal ranges. Philippa Leadbetter…

Writer : Marie Jones Director: Jake Smith Two tried and trusted brands – Eastern Angles and Stones in his Pockets – should ensure a successful tour of the region this spring. This is Jake Smith’s first show for the company since he became Artistic Director. It’s an engagingly fresh look at a piece that’s been around for a quarter of a century, with new music and sound by David Barton, and evocative design – artwork back-projected to set the scene – by Amy Watts. This production will visit village halls as well as studio theatres, so the staging is simple: outcrops of rock, a screen for the sepia…

Writer: L. Frank Baum Music: Harold Arlen Lyrics: E.Y. Harburg Additional Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Adaptors: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams Director: Nikolai Foster Fresh from a London Palladium run, The Wizard of Oz UK tour lands in Norwich. The story, of course, is one we all know of a young Dorothy who finds herself a long way from Kansas, with a dead witch’s shoes on her feet, and only a Lion, a Scarecrow, and a Tin Man to help her (oh my!). This version, adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams does…

Writer: Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow Director: Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage Choreographer: Carrie-Anne Ingrouille Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Reducing six women’s lives to a single word each would already be bad enough, but six queens? And not just any queens either: no, the queens of Henry VIII’s reign are not about to be forgotten under layers of frills and stories of an old fat man. As they grace the stage for another tour of Six they are here to tell their side of the story, and the audience best sit up and listen. Six returns to Norwich,…

Writer: Ira Levin Director: Tam Williams Ira Levin’s comedy murder mystery Deathtrap, which takes place on one set with a cast of five characters, is a wealth of self-reference and metatextual commentary. Its lead character is Sidney Bruhl (Nick Waring), a writer of murder mystery stage plays (always one set, five characters) whose creative well is coming up dry. When a former student, George Watkins’s Clifford Anderson, mails him a completely new play called Deathtrap, Sidney is tempted to bump him off and claim the work for his own. Like all the best murder mysteries, there are twists at the…